There are 37 cytochrome P450 families currently identified in animals. The concept of higher order groupings of P450 families called P450 CLANS is introduced. The mammalian CYP3 and CYP5 families belong to the same clan as insect CYP6 and CYP9. All mitochondrial P450s seem to belong to the same clan. Lack of mitochondrial P450s in C. elegans suggests that mitochondrial P450s probably arose from the mistargeting of a microsomal P450 after the coelomates diverged from acoelomates and pseudocoelomates. Different taxonomic groups appear to have recruited different ancestral P450s for expansion as they evolved, since each major taxon seems to have one large cluster of P450s. In insects, this cluster derives from the ancestor to the CYP4 family. Vertebrates and C. elegans may have used the same ancestor independently to generate the CYP1, 2, 17, and 21 families in vertebrates and a large distinctive clan with 45 genes in C. elegans.